Abrupt turnover in WTA Tennis shown as only two players in biggest finals during 2021 still in top 70

Saturday, 17 June 2023 at 19:18

During 2021 saw five different winners in WTA Tennis of Grand Slam tournaments, but in an alarming stat, only two of the players involved in those are still in the top 70.

Naomi Osaka first of all won the Australian Open and defeated Jennifer Brady. The former went through a barren run and now is aiming for a 2024 return at the Australian Open.

This of course with the birth of her first child with rapper boyfriend Cordae imminent. While for Jennifer Brady, she was recently set to make a return to the court at Roland Garros but injury problems reared their head again.

For many it came down to not backing it up, this included Anett Kontaveit who in particular dominated hard court indoor tournaments during that year, but she couldn't continue that form and has dropped like a stone since then.

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While Garbine Muguruza is currently on a break from the sport after a torrid time on court and has since got engaged as she looks to find a happy place in life before returning missing clay and likely missing the grass court season.

Ashleigh Barty has since retired, with Karolina Pliskova still in the top 70. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova faced Barbora Krejcikova, the only other player still up there in the Roland Garros final.

Pavlyuchenkova also went through injury troubles and only recently made a return, while Krejickova barring the odd title failed to become a dominant force.

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Finally, the highly discussed tale of Emma Raducanu who defeated Leylah Fernandez in the US Open final.

Raducanu has been the subject of heavy hype then heavy criticism and is now on the shelf injury wise with three surgeries in an attempt to curb constant injury troubles.

While Leylah Fernandez has like many others that year failed to find consistency despite before that having won titles on the WTA Tour.

An alarming stat highlighted by Ben Rothenberg amid the era of Iga Swiatek that for most, the longevity is not there.

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Ben Rothenberg

@BenRothenberg

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Via a recent chat, a stat on how abrupt turnover has been in women's tennis this decade: Five biggest finals in 2021: 🐨Osaka d. Brady 🐌Krejcikova d. Pavlyuchenkova 🍓Barty d. Pliskova 🗽Raducanu d. Fernandez 🎱Muguruza d. Kontaveit Today, only two are currently top 70.

10:34 PM · Jun 16, 2023

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